Sketches of Steve Hackett: The Authorised Steve Hackett
Biography by Alan Hewitt, Wymer Publishing
Steve Hackett does not go down the rocky road of accusation which celebrities
with just the two brain cells have all too often trodden.
Being the gent that he
is, and,, well advised by his lawyers, his biographer has decided to celebrate
only his musical achievements. He won't say it. His lawyers won't say it. But I
am allowed to say it. Kim Poor, whatever else she was involved with, did not
play lead guitar on Selling England by the Pound. End of story.
The publisher, is renowned for this style of detailed biography. See his
unofficial one about Blackmore for example. This is a tome which you can dip in
and extract what you will, as long it isn’t dirt. Only dedicated Steve Hackett
fans will go for this style of account, and the publishers don’t claim it is
anything else but a true account of a rock musician’s journey.
Compare the cover price against some inane tripe from the publicity hounds like
Jonathan Ross that "adorn" the top ten. You would then see, at a cursory glance,
that the great British public prefer gladiatorial battles against the chronicles
of a master craftsman.
Witness also the tawdry whingeing on X Factor or Pop Idol
as an example of the media we deserve. Phil Collins's is around the same price.
But I really don't give a fig about this guy’s film career and whether or not he
is a good ole cockney mucker.
Instead we get a sense of what it is like to be part of a major rock band. We
discover Steve’s first gig with Genesis which was marred by arguments between
the band members.
I wasn’t aware that there was any tension between Tony Banks,
Peter Gabriel and Mike Rutherford c.1971 for example. And I was captivated by
Steve’s account of his first gig where his faithful fuzz pedal was replaced, at
the very last minute, by a new one which fed back. We’ve all been there. Except
of course the stakes were far higher in Steve Hackett’s case.
I would have expected a little more of the Genesis years but as contemporary,
Robert Plant often points out, , he spent more time out of his alma mater than
in it.
Steve Hackett has been a prolific songwriter and is happy in his own skin
as the man who supplied the more mystical dimensions to early Genesis and
eventually ran down the fertile valley with those ideas. Good on the trio for
turning Genesis into a cash cow. But equally, thank the acolytes Hackett decided
that three chord wonders, however lucrative, were not really why he answered the
ad all those years ago.
Still gigging and touring, Alan Hewitt diligently records the challenging life
on the road and in the studio. Thankfully his musical output was not marred by
the usual excesses of rock stardom.
Hewitt however does not attempt to paint
Steve Hackett as anything other than human. The tone remains optimistic
throughout. A man of integrity celebrated. And in these days when you can’t even
trust your local politician, is it such a Cryme to stick to what matters in
life? Steve Hackett is a guitar player. Read all about it.
To make your own mind up about the man and his music, I would strongly advise
you listen to Pete Feenstra’s interview with Mr Hackett here on Get Ready to
ROCK! Radio. Can nice chaps succeed
in this business? Evidently so.
The words in this book certainly inspired me to check out my own collection of
Steve Hackett's back catalogue. And I'll buy more only when I am sure that the
man himself (and nobody else) receives his cut.
****
Review by Keith Thompson
